Thimbles

The lot of us
Luckily Simon is happy
for us to do what
makes us happy
(unless it involves
spending huge
sums on rare
breed chickens
that the foxes take).

George,
now at Bristol University,
studying Physics
George loves climbing,
music and animals

Elizabeth (now older
and doing A levels) Boarding at Wells Cathedral School
and playing a lot of French Horn and Piano
She is very sociable and untidy!

Our honey and eggs

Here at Thimbles I run a bed and breakfast and Great Taste Award winning Fabulous Bakes with my friend Sarah.

My general philosophy is that if I can do something myself I will (or get my husband Simon to help me at the weekend with scary things like chainsaws)! So, we keep rare breed pigs (that grow at a much more natural rate than the commercially bred pink, hairless pigs) from Spring to Autumn each year with the aim that is usually fulfilled of finishing them off on acorns and apples! I cure the bacon and Simon smokes it, I then slice it and vacuum pack it. We hand make our own sausages and saucissons and make our own ‘parma’ ham.

We keep bees ( by the orchard and kitchen garden) and I do my best to deter them from swarming and taking the honey they made with them! I grow every sort of vegetable and fruit imaginable and I grow flowers and roses galore which I put all over the house.

I currently have 2 french wheaten maran cockerels and in Spring I will provide them with some ladies so that I can get my mahogany coloured eggs . Sadly various and numerous visitations from foxes have made my husband, Simon, quite fed up as rare breed chickens are not the cheapest purchase and annoyingly we have been outwitted by super intelligent foxes. Simon says that we might as well hire a limousine to take us to London to get the eggs from Fortnum and Mason! He is rather missing the point!

So in the sub-sections I will be posting frequent blogs about what I am up to at any moment in time. I hope you enjoy it!

Spring is in the air! I spent a whole day in my garden yesterday, it is so satisfying to see the crocuses (which are the most annoying small bulbs to plant) have not only come up but have also naturalised under my magnolia stellata and oak tree.

Also, how about this amazing bouquet of spring flowers? (sadly not from my garden, I am a month away from a display like this from my garden), but what a fabulous treat and smell.

Here we go with Sarah’s creation! It has been a nightmare having to eat all the pieces left over from cutting out heart shapes. No one makes me of course but somehow it would be tragic to throw them away! Check out www.fabulousbakes.com if you want some!

I can’t really talk you through this because it is my husband, Simon’s, New Year thing, but we are REALLY enjoying it, and so are our bnb guests. He takes his jar of culture (which lives in a kilner jar in the fridge) out of the fridge each Wednesday evening, and with the adding of flour and water and cling film to keep the ambient temperature in the bowl), then the kneading, by Saturday it is ready to go in the oven. It is almost scary seeing how the dough grows using the natural yeast in flour!

This is the only month in the year that you will find Seville Oranges for sale in the UK so I make this each year for my bnb guests.
I could not call myself connoisseur, but my husband loves this and I have to hide the jars so that my guests can enjoy it too!

This is a weekends work, not much work, but time is needed. Read below…

1. Scrub the oranges and remove the buttons. Cut in half and squeeze out the nice into a big bowl.
2. Peel what you can from the best of the halved oranges and cut this peel to a thickness that you like.
3. Add to the bowl of orange juice and cover with 5 litres of water, to soak overnight, or for 24 hours.
4. Transfer to a preserving pan and bring to the boil, then simmer slowly, covered, until the peel is tender. (This might take 2 hours plus and the contents of the pan should reduce by approx. 1/3rd.

5. Sir in the lemon juice and sugar and bring to the boil, stirring until all the sugar has dissolved.
6. Now you need to boil rapidly until setting point is reached ( I test with a teaspoon on a cold white plate to see if it is too runny. Note the long you boil the more tawny the marmalade is).
7. Leave to cool for 30 plus minutes (otherwise the peel might sink to the bottom of the jars)
8. Pour into warm (otherwise the glass jar might break) STERILISED jars and seal immediately.